Iwo Jima monument up for sale

MILITARY HISTORY

Updated 1:50 am, Thursday, February 21, 2013

Photo: Associated Press

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This photo combination shows, at left, a 1945 photo of the original 12 1/2-foot (4 meter) cast stone version of Felix de Weldon's iconic statue depicting soldiers raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima, placed in front of the old Navy Department Building, now the Federal Reserve Building, in Washington, D.C.; and, at right, de Weldon's 32-foot (10-meter)-tall bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., on Oct. 21, 2012. The smaller original statue, which was removed in 1947 and hidden under a tarp at the artist's studio for four decades, is expected to fetch up to $1.8 million when it goes on sale at Bonham's auction house in New York on Feb. 22, 2013.

This photo combination shows, at left, a 1945 photo of the original 12 1/2-foot (4 meter) cast stone version of Felix de Weldon's iconic statue depicting soldiers raising the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima, placed in

Joe Rosenthal's Photo: He won the Pulitzer Prize for his famous photograph of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945.

Joe Rosenthal's Photo: He won the Pulitzer Prize for his famous photograph of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945.

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President Truman is presented with a bronze statue modelled after Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's photo of US marines raising the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, at the White House, in this June 4, 1945 file photo. From left, Truman, statue sculptor Felix de Weldon, and AP photographer Joe Rosenthal.

President Truman is presented with a bronze statue modelled after Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's photo of US marines raising the American flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, at the White House, in

Marines gather around the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Joe Rosenthal had them pose for the photograph shortly after he took his famous flag-raising picture. Associated Press file photo, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal

Marines gather around the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Joe Rosenthal had them pose for the photograph shortly after he took his famous flag-raising picture. Associated Press file photo, 1945, by

Chronicle phtographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer for his famous Iwo Jima flag raising photo in 1945.

Chronicle phtographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer for his famous Iwo Jima flag raising photo in 1945.

Photo: Associated Press

Iwo Jima monument up for sale

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The original 10,000-pound, cast stone version of the Iwo Jima monument will go up for auction in New York on Friday, officials said.

Longtime Chronicle photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising an American flag in 1945 as a photographer for the Associated Press. Sculptor Felix de Weldon used the image to create the memorial statue, which stood on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., for years before it was recast in a bigger size for the current Marine Corps memorial in Arlington, Va.

The original stone version is expected to sell for $1.2 million to $1.8 million as part of a larger auction of World War II material, said Anne Wilson, a spokeswoman for auction house Bonhams.

A 52-image photo album of Rosenthal's work from the war will also be up for auction and is expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000, Wilson said.